Snack Foods and Water Activity

I grabbed a pack of 100 calorie cookies the other day. I was three bites in when a bitter, rancid after-taste filled the back of my mouth and nose. The cookies weren’t past their sell-by date—but they sure had expired.

Lipid oxidation often ends shelf life for snacks. It’s becoming a bigger problem for snack food makers as they switch to healthier polyunsaturated oils, which are more prone to lipid oxidation.

Losing Crunch?

Most snack foods are famous for their texture. Whether crispy, crunchy, chewy, flaky, soft, or tender, getting the texture right is a key component of quality.

It might seem natural to measure texture changes with moisture content. But the rate at which your protein bar changes from a soft, chewy square to a rock hard lump is determined not by water content, but by the energy of the water in your product.

Keep Measuring Moisture

Many snack food makers have been measuring moisture for decades. So, we say, why stop now? Keep measuring moisture. But use AquaLab Duo to do it. You’ll get:

Better Precision—In snack foods, small changes in moisture yield big changes in water activity. Duo uses water activity like a magnifying glass. The result: very precise moisture measurements.

Two-for-One: Duo determines a product’s moisture just by measuring its water activity. You can use moisture as you historically have, but you’ll also have water activity for more accurate scientific analysis.